News & Reviews

REVIEW: ABERDEEN SINFONIETTA AT CAIRD HALL, DUNDEE 28th MAY 2017

Garry Walker: Conductor

Gina McCormack: Guest violin soloist

It’s nice to welcome a visiting
orchestra to Dundee but the enjoyment escalates when it’s the
calibre of the Aberdeen Sinfonietta, writes Garry Fraser. Semi
peripatetic while their ‘home’ – Aberdeen’s Music Hall – is
being refurbished, they’re taking their talents on tour, and with
the Caird Hall being their chosen venue this weekend, I only wish
they had been welcomed by a larger audience. Hopefully, if there is a
next time, word will spread that this is an orchestra not to be
missed.

Their programme on Sunday was just
perfect, the old overture-concerto-symphony formula that was
augmented in no small way with John McLeod’s Hebridean Dances. Here
McLeod showed that a contemporary take on traditional melodies need
not rely on heavy atonal orchestration to achieve any effect.

But to the o-c-s syndrome. This worked
absolutely superbly with Rossini’s overture to the Barber of
Seville providing the ideal curtain-raiser, and with every one of the
orchestra keen to show their excellent credentials. These credentials
became more and more apparent as the concert wore on, culminating in
a quite marvellous performance of Dvorak’s 8th Symphony in which
many superlatives fall short. It was the sort of performance any
world-renowned orchestra would have been proud of.

As to the concerto, this was also
straight out of the top drawer. I’ve heard violinist Gina McCormack
in chamber music mode, but in this concerto role she was positively
outstanding. Bruch’s G minor concerto is well-known but I felt she
gave it a freshness with a performance that was assured and
assertive. The Adagio was pure heaven and the following finale, chalk
to its cheese was boisterous, effervescent and a total joy.